


Tommy Knows: "Betrayal"

by ThomE_Gemcity_06



Series: Eloquence of a Secret [13]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon-divergence, Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Drama, Episode: s1e13 - “Betrayal", Family Drama, Friendship, Gen, Kidnapping, Non-Canonical Character Death, Secrets, Tommy Knows!, Tommy!Whump, casework, emotion hurt/comfort, relationship drama
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-14
Updated: 2017-06-14
Packaged: 2018-11-14 03:46:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11199807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThomE_Gemcity_06/pseuds/ThomE_Gemcity_06
Summary: Tommy and Diggle go behind Oliver's back to look into Moira's involvement with the list, when Tommy gets himself into trouble when he goes to Laurel's call.





	Tommy Knows: "Betrayal"

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own Arrow, its episodes or its characters.  
> Tag: Season 1, Episode 13 - "Betrayal"

**Magnum by Boker Ziel**

**...** **_At first glance, these beautiful stainless steel throwers from Boker might look a bit like scalpels. In fact, they have the accuracy and razor sharpness of surgical tools. If there is ever a way to combine brain surgery and knife throwing, you can be sure that you'll be using these throwing knives. Weighing in at 14 ounces, these knives are also some heavy hitters._ **

* * *

 

**aRRoW**

"So I was right," Tommy mumbled, his thoughts stretched a thousand miles away. "Walter's disappearance _did_ have to do with the list."

"You're telling us Felicity had this all this time?" Diggle asked, flipping through the notebook. "It looks the same as your list."

"It's identical. I checked." Oliver said, leaning back against the table. "It even has _more_ names than mine. I was tearing out pages for kindling for fire on the island before the heat cooked the invisible ink and made it visible."

"Merlyn?" Diggle held the book out.

Tommy took it into his lap, his thumb running up and down the edge of the cover. "Did you tell her you're The Hood?"

"What?" Oliver was surprised by the question. "Of course not."

Tommy looked up at him. "That wasn't why she decided to bring this to you? Because she suspected that you might be The Hood?"

Oliver shook her head. "She said that even though I told her terrible lies, she felt that she could still trust me and that at least _someone else_ should know about Walter."

"She tell you how Walter got a hold of it?" Diggle wondered.

"She said Walter found it in their bedroom." Oliver responded quietly.

That tidbit woke Tommy up from his circling thoughts. He gave his head a little shake. "As in this is _Moira's_ notebook?" he stood and approached his friend, holding up the notebook.

"And now he's missing." Diggle filled in the blank.

Oliver took the notebook and stowed in back into his back pocket. "She's my mother. She's not the kind of person who would--"

"Have her husband disappear? Because that's really the question." Diggle stood, too. "I understand why you would want to believe your mother over your step-father, Oliver, but _I_ tend to believe that the innocent party is whoever's missing and presumed dead."

"Diggle's right, Oliver." Tommy implored. "This isn't something you can just ignore. Robert had a notebook on the yacht with him, maybe this is just his extra copy if something happened to the one he had—or maybe she knows what Robert was into and that's _her_ copy." He blew out his cheeks when he didn't get the response he was looking for—any response, really. "Did Felicity tell you what she was looking at?"

"No."

"She came to you with a copy of the notebook your father gave you before he killed himself, which Walter found in your mother's bedroom, and is now connected to Walter's disappearance... and you don't try and get all the information you can? You're in complete denial, Ollie!"

Oliver looked at his best-friend for a long moment before he acceded, "I'll talk to her in the morning."

**...**

_thwack! thwack!_ It was a steady, spaced rhythm. Mostly interspersed with clangs, clatters, and knocks. _thwack! thwack!_ Tommy continued until the soft kit was laid empty, and the target board was crowded with lethal throwing knives.

"She burned it and that doesn't strike you as suspicious?" Diggle threw his hands up, incredulous and frustrated at the blond.

Tommy approached the board in the workout area as Oliver and Diggle continued to argue Moira Queen and the matter of the copied (now ashes) notebook.

"She was scared. She's just trying to protect Thea and I." Oliver defended his mother. "All she knows it that that was the thing that took Walter away because he was asking questions."

"Or her own." Diggle persisted. "You said it yourself, Oliver, whoever compiled the list is involved in something dangerous. If your mother is lying--"

"She's not. I saw her. She didn't know any of the names."

"No offence, Oliver, but why would she tell you that she did in the first place? Because you asked nicely? She'll tell you she knows you, too, but you lie to her everyday." He played devil's advocate. "She told you that she didn't. You don't have to take her word for it. If this was anybody else, you'd be Hooded-up and on your way to an arrow-side chat with them."

"But this isn't anybody else!" Oliver fisted his hands, stepping forward. "This is my mother. And I know her."

Tommy was really considering stepping in, because if these two actually started to trade blows, he was sure he wouldn't be able to stop it until they decided punching each other was not a fun idea. And with the charged emotions in the lair right now, he didn't think it would be a fast realization—but he was saved by the cell.

They all three paused and turned towards the unfamiliar ring that came from none of their own.

"Isn't that--" Diggle started.

"The Hoodphone." Tommy finished.

"Lance?" Diggle asked as Oliver picked up the phone, their previous conversation on hold, or in Oliver's opinion, finished.

"He gave it to Laurel." Oliver said shortly before he answered the cell. "Hello?"

"That went as great as it did last night." Tommy remarked quietly to the body guard.

"Yeah. Words won't make an impact with Oliver, not this time."

"Does that mean you have a plan?" Tommy wondered.

"If Oliver isn't going to do anything about this, then we have to." Diggle said.

"You mean go behind his back."

"You've seen him, Merlyn. He's not going to accept anything without evidence."

"And if there isn't any?"

"Then he should be glad that we proved Mrs. Queen has no involvement in this."

"Laurel needs my help," Oliver turned to them. "I have work to do." He stowed the cell.

"Oliver, you running to help Laurel or away from the truth about your mother?"

Oliver said nothing, his face stone as he grabbed his Hood and gear, leaving via the South alley entrance.

Tommy sighed, going to the table and unloading his sharp load. He started to fill the cloth slots.

"Where'd you even get these?" Diggle asked, picking up one of the knives and testing it with hand-tosses. "They don't look like Oliver's."

"Amazon.com." Tommy said seriously, managing to snatch the knife out of the air without cutting his fingers off. "I've always been good at darts, thought I'd try something a little more... practical in a dangerous situation." Diggle just nodded, turning to lean against the table, his arms crossed over his chest. "So, what exactly is your plan?"

Diggle smacked his lips. "A conveniently sickened driver; it won't be suspicious if I offer to fill in for a few days. That way I can keep track of Mrs. Queen's movements and see if she meets with anyone interesting. After Oliver showed her the notebook, if she's involved in this, there'll be some movement."

"I'm afraid to ask what you're going to do to her usual driver." Tommy muttered.

He gave a small chuckle. "You, Merlyn?"

"I'll go and see Felicity." He rolled the kit and knotted the strap.

"Mixing pleasure with business?" Diggle smirked.

"There's nothing pleasing about going behind Oliver's back,"

"We need to know either way, Tommy." He clapped the man on the back. "At least this way we won't be making Oliver spy on his own mother."

**X**

"Hey," Tommy shut the office door behind him.

"Hey," Felicity said nervously.

Tommy just cut to the chase at the sight of her guilty-conscious leaking out. "Oliver told me about the other night."

"Of course. I mean of course he did; you're childhood best-friends, you're brothers. Well, not... _brothers_ but _like_ brothers--"

"Felicity," his hand on her shoulder had her withdrawing from the ramble and taking a deep breath. "You kind of freaked him out a little, but he wanted me to ask if I could get the stuff you found?"

She was worried to give it to him, seeing as this appeared to be the same information that got Walter missing, but he convinced her that Walter must have accidentally tipped someone of his investigation and no one seemed to know of her involvement and would have no clue of his. She agreed to have it all for him by morning.

**...**

Tommy was just leaving QC from talking to Felicity and convincing her to give him the information she had dug up on Walter's behalf, when he got a steaming call from Laurel asking him to come over.

She wasn't pissed at him; they'd been getting along great after the break-up. No, Oliver said that he was going to meet Laurel as The Hood to handoff what information he was able to get against Cyrus Vanch. Something must have gone awry (not that Diggle or Oliver bothered to call him) and she wanted someone to vent to.

"This should be interesting," he thought to himself.

And he was right. But it wasn't The Hood she wanted to rage about, it was her dad. Twist! Apparently, Lance had bugged The Hoodphone and set up a sting; she'd ended up in the crosshairs of a dozen guns and Oliver almost didn't get out of there. He was definitely going to chew out Oliver and Diggle for not calling him!

"You've been working with the vigilante?" he asked, acting surprised because he wasn't supposed to know. For the first time he knew what Oliver felt when he had to lie to his family's faces. "No wonder your dad went ballistic!"

She looked a little guilty as she admitted, "He contacted me before. He helped me with Joanna's arson investigation and the Declan case."

"The Declan case was months ago." Tommy said. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"It's not really something I want to announce to the world. It could end my career." She defended. "And if it hadn't been for The Hood, Declan and I would have been killed."

"I thought you said he was a cold-blooded killer without remorse?" he was confused.

"What else was I supposed to say to my father, you know how he is."

"I do. But still, Laurel--"

"Oh, Tommy! Please, not you too!" she protested.

"Look, not me, too." He corrected. "I think The Hood is actually helping this city. The things he's helped you with, and it was because of him that The Count got put away and helped save Thea from jail."

"Wow," Laurel looked at him in amazement. "I honestly didn't think you'd react this way."

"Oliver calls him crazy and a killer; don't listen to him, he doesn't know what he's talking about." He always wondered if he would have thought that same, did he not know that it was his best-friend under that Hood. "I'll convert him," Tommy said. "I think The Hood is a hero." He took her hand in his, "But are you sure it's a good idea to get involved with him? Even if he doesn't mean you harm, he has enemies and is surrounded by danger." He asked in genuine concern. "Didn't this thing with you dad just prove that?"

"I only contacted him when I was desperate and didn't have any alternative." She explained. But then she glowered in annoyance, "But dad took the phone back. There's no way for me to get into contact with him now unless he comes to me like he did with Declan."

"Maybe it's for the best?" Tommy suggested.

Laurel sighed. "You hungry? Sorry I dragged you over here. Take-out?"

He grinned. "Food always works on me, you know that."

**...**

Tommy was just zipping his jeans when he heard the muffled sound of a knock at the door. But as he flushed and turned to the sink, he heard the sounds that were decidedly not of Laurel paying for the food—but a fight. He quickly sent a 9-1-1 Team Hood and quickly looked for a weapon. He forewent the plunger by the toilet and cracked the bathroom door.

"Tommy!" Laurel's cut-off shout put him into gear.

Tommy grabbed a sculpture from the shelve and crept forward. He could see Laurel's feet peeking out into the hall from the kitchen. And he could see Vanch standing over her.

"Love a girl who can take care of herself. But you can't block a Taser." Vanch chuckled.

Tommy resisted the urge to call out Laurel's name, he barely breathed, his socked feet silent on the wood floor. He got close as he possibly could to the turned back, but he must have made a nose or something because as he swung down, Vanch moved—and instead of cracking him in the back of the head, the sculpture smashed across the back of his shoulder.

Vanch grunted and stumbled into the corner of the wall and Tommy was already turning to grab the flower vase from the side table when Vanch donkey-kicked, striking Tommy in the side. He stumbled back, his heel coming down on the umbrella Laurel had grabbed from the holder by the door when Vanch's thugs barged in. Tommy barely managed to catch himself on the door.

Vanch straightened and turned, dusting his shoulder. "Oh! So the lawyer got herself a Boy Toy, huh?"

Tommy ignored the name and his eyes flickered to the Taser Vanch had. Diggle had been teaching him how to disarm a gun pointed into his face, but a Taser was a completely different story. He couldn't just grab it, it was like a live-wire. He needed to knock it out of hand.

"You were already pushing you luck when you stepped foot out of Iron Heights. Now, he's going to kill you." Tommy promised while his gaze subtly flickered around his surrounding for a weapon. What he needed was that umbrella.

"Ah! But see, I'm counting on _him_ making an appearance. What do you think this whole charade is for?" he waved the Taser.

Tommy made a feint for the umbrella that lay between them, but reached for the coat rack next to him. Vanch read the move for what it was and was ready forthe swing, Tommy cursed. Vanch moved in, fast like a viper, but he didn't use the Taser, but he punched Tommy in the face.

Tommy dropped the coat rack and managed to get his arm up and deflected the next punch, striking Vanch in the ribs with his other hand. Vanch grunted lightly at the impact, but used the inward deflection to throw his elbow in the game and Tommy’s nose.

Tommy managed a good hit or two more before Vanch knocked him on his ass.

"Not just a pretty face!" he laughed. "Can't have two hostages, only came for the one." He pulled out a knife. "Sorry, sweet cheeks. Hold on a minute!" he looked at Tommy closely. "You're not just a nobody, are you? The vigilante's saved you, too, hasn't he? His very first appearance. Hmm. It's your lucky day, kid. I guess I will take a double, please." He grinned.

Laurel took out two guys and he couldn't even take out this one? Then all he saw was the crackling electricity before the pain and darkness.

**...**

Tommy gave a small groan; he was in a very uncomfortable position. His shoulders were strained, there was something sharp biting into his wrists, and something hard pressed the small of his back.

"Tommy!" Laurel shouted.

"Mm!" he tried to speak, but his lips were hindered.

"Ah, finally awake." Tommy's eyes snapped open at Vanch's voice. "I was worried there for a minute. I was a bit liberal with the Taser."

"You're a bastard!" Laurel cursed him, tied in comfort to a kitchen chair. Tommy was relieved to see she looked otherwise unharmed. "Assault with intent. Kidnapping. Two counts. You're going to rot in prison for life this time." Tommy was not in a very fun position himself; his hands cuffed above and behind him his head to a kitchen cupboard, the counter edge digging into the small of his back—it was not very comfortable.

Vanch laughed at the threat. "That's assuming your Hooded BFF saves you. Does your Arm Candy here know of your extra curricular activities?"

"You have no idea who you're messing with, Vanch." Laurel warned.

"Mm-mm mm-mm-mmph!" Tommy's muffled words were cut off with a cry as Vanch ripped the duct tape away without warning.

He leaned nonchalantly on the counter beside Tommy. "You were saying?"

"You should listen to her." Tommy said. "She knows what she's talking about. She put you away once, she's going to again. You're just giving her a golden ticket. And when he does come, you're going to wish you stayed in prison."

"On the contrary. I know exactly who I'm messing with." He wagged a finger. "See, I didn't just dive into this hands-free, I watched every single broadcast made about Starling City's Vigilante, The Hood. And his chances of survival are not so great. He's going up against trained men with their fingers on the trigger of guns that fire up to 600 rounds per minute. Now I'm no Einstein but that's a lot of bullets. Even if he were to take them out, I have two sharpshooters on the roof. And even if he get by _them,_ what is he going to do against the veritable army of sons of bitches I got waiting for him?

"Now, as I said, I'm no Einstein, but I can count to 24. 24 is the exact number of arrows he carries in his quiver and flechettes around his forearm. So, you were saying?" he cupped a hand mockingly behind his ear.

Tommy glared, because shit! This guy was not screwing around. But Tommy knew something that nobody else did—The Hood didn't work alone.

"Oh, come on, you two!" Vanch took out his knife. "Why so sullen? It's not as if you're about to die." He laughed. "Any last words? No deathbed confessions?" silence answered him and he twirled the knife. "All right, how about a bet? What do you think, Lover Boy? Who is it that he's really coming for, hmm? Her?" he gestured the knife at Laurel. "I mean, he's working with her now, isn't he? But you... he came out for you. His whole crusade started with you. I say we end it with you, too. What do you say, Prince?" Vanch pressed the knife tip against his ribs, slowly adding pressure.

"Stop it!" Laurel shouted just as The Hood was lead into the mansion behind her, his quiver empty and bow raised above his head, three gunman with guns at his back.

Vanch grinned at the sight. "Finally! I was starting to think you didn't care. What say you, Hood? If you could save only one, who would you choose, who would you sacrifice? Any parting words for Lover Boy?"

Oliver stayed silent and the best-friends locked eyes under the Hood. Tommy spoke on his behalf, "And you must not have gotten the memo." Tommy replied. "The Hood doesn't work alone."

Everything happened fast then slow. There were gunshots and the three gunman dropped from Diggle's well-aimed shots (out of view). Vanch's blade was at Tommy's carotid, there was a scream (Laurel), and suddenly the entire side of Tommy's face was covered in warm blood.

"Tommy!" Laurel cried, straining against the rope.

Tommy turned to look at Vanch and found his kidnapper, almost killer with a flechette sticking out of his throat before he dropped to the floor at Tommy's feet, dead. Tommy heaved a huge, shuddering breath.

Oliver was suddenly in front of him, reaching above to unlock the handcuffs. "Tommy?" he asked urgently, quietly.

"I'm okay." Tommy whispered the promise. "Go."

Oliver gave a minuscule nod. "The police are on their way." And then he was gone.

Tommy put his arms down, rolling his strained shoulders as he rubbed his face against his sleeve, wiping the blood away. He bent and grabbed Vanch's knife and quickly cut Laurel free.

"Are you okay?" she demanded, hugging him hard. "I thought he was going to kill you!"

"I'm okay," he said into her hair, dropping the knife and holding her tight. "He didn't do anything to you while I was out?"

Laurel shook her head against his chest. "No." She finally pulled back. "You were right. Being associated with The Hood is dangerous; you could have been killed. My dad was right to take the phone back."

Tommy just hugged her again as they heard the sirens. This was not going to be fun.

**X**

"Tommy, what are you doing back here?" Oliver demanded in worry, looking up from his arrows as he heard someone else enter the lair; he'd been expecting Diggle. "You should be at the mansion resting."

"It's just a few cuts, nothing serious." He dragged the computer chair over to the table and sat in it with an exhale. The strained muscles in his shoulders and back felt the worst of it.

"He nearly killed you!" Oliver protested. "If I'd been a second slower--" he couldn't finish the rest.

"But you weren't." Tommy squeezed his shoulder. "I'm three for three. Kidnapped three times, rescues by you three times."

Oliver tensed under his hand for a split second. "What do you mean, kidnapped three times, Tommy?"

"Tonight with Vanch. When we were both kidnapped after you got home." Tommy gave him a penetrating stare, "And about two years ago... in Hong Kong." It had come to him when he heard Oliver's Hood-voice without the modulator for the first time.

Oliver just shook his head. "I don't know what you're talking about, Tommy." He stood.

"Oliver, please. Just tell me something, anything." Tommy pleaded. "I haven't demanded to know, I've just been doing everything I can to be there for you, support your need for this crusade. I believe in you, Oliver, but you can't keep doing this. Keeping yourself locked away. Keeping everything to yourself. It's not healthy."

"And what if I tell you and you decide this is the thing that broke the camel's back?"

"You spent time on an island where you were tortured and learned to fight. You killed to protect yourself. You're a captain in the Bratva and speak Russian. You were in Hong Kong, weren't you Oliver?"

Tight lipped, Oliver nodded.

Tommy's heart picked up at the silent admission. "How? Why? Why didn't you come home?"

"I did what I did to protect you, Tommy, you have to believe that." He begged his friend to understand. "They were going to kill you if I hadn't made you stop asking questions."

"I believe you," he swore. "But who are 'they'?"

Oliver shoved his fingers roughly through his hair as he paced in front of his best-friend. "They rescued me from the island. They're a dark-ops free-agency. A.R.G.U.S. Those men on the island, the ones that tortured me, they worked for A.R.G.U.S. She threatened to kill my family if I didn't work for her as an agent."

"Okay." Tommy said quietly after a long moment.

Oliver stopped pacing and stared. "Okay? That's it? That's all you have to say?"

"Were you expecting something else?"

"Yeah. I just told you I was conscripted into a shady agency and did unspeakable things, and all you have to say is: okay?"

Tommy stood and went over to him. "I already know you've killed people, Oliver. You just did it two hours ago right in front of me! If that hasn't changed my mind about you when I first confronted you about The Hood, why would you think it would now?"

"Because you have no idea--"

"Did you kill innocent people?"

"Yes," his voice cracked over the admittance.

"Did you _want_ to? Or did you _have_ to? Did you have _no other_ choice?" Tommy continued. "Were they caught in the crossfire?"

"Their blood is still on my hands." He looked away.

Tommy grabbed his best-friend's hands without any hesitation. "These hands have saved my life, more times than I can count. They've saved Laurel's. They've saved countless others in this city. You can do the right thing, and bad things can still happen. You've wounded me with these hands, but I still trust them. These hands can harm, but only in the defence of self and others. _That_ 's what matters, Oliver. Blood is on your hands so it doesn't have to be on others. I believe in you. Don't know if that helps, but it's true."

"A lot," Oliver chocked. "It helps more than you can know."

"Good." Tommy nodded. Then gave a small smirk, "Let's keep holding hands, it's not weird."

Oliver gave a watery snort, but he pulled his hands from Tommy's only to hug the other man. "I almost did this in front of Laurel. I'm so glad you're okay."

"Me, too." he chuckled, squeezing back. "And that would have been a bitch to explain,"

"Sorry to interrupt," Diggle walked in, and the pair parted, "I know it's been a long night, but there's something you guys need to hear." He held out a small recorder and pressed play. Moira's voice was instantly recognizable.

Anger flared in Oliver's eyes. "You bugged my mother?" he growled.

"Just listen," and he played the rest of the recording.

f

**aRROW**

**Author's Note:**

> I was conflicted with what to do with Tommy in this episode in consideration of his involvement in the Vanch Case. i.e. Finding the recording and going to Lance about Laurel's kidnapping. Of course, now that Tommy Know's Oliver is The Hood, he wouldn't go to Lance, but Oliver [and he and Diggle would have gone with The Hood to rescue Laurel]. But then I also had a few other ways to swing it:  
> Like Tommy walking in on the kidnapping, getting knocked out or wounded and left behind; Tommy taking out Vanch before he could take Laurel; —but then I remember that Vanch went through all the footage about The Hood and would have seen the kidnapping of Oliver and Tommy and that was what I decided to go with.  
> Tell me what you think. Did you like what I decided to go with, or would you have preferred to see one of the other scenario? Review?
> 
>  **DELETED TEXT:**  
>  "I went to see her. She gave me all the stuff she was looking into for Walter. I've got financial statements of the money she transferred to a shell company, and this warehouse. I think you should check it out.”  
> "That's not the priority right now, it can hold. Vanch is the immediate threat right now."  
> "Oliver, there's been nothing in connection with Walter for over two months and now that there is, it's like you're not even interested."  
> ...  
> "They're convenient, even if you don't smoke recreationally."  
> x


End file.
